Conference Report
On 26-28 September 2001 in Versailles, France, more than 120 academics and practitioners, from 16 different countries – and the five continents –met at the Second International Research Conference of the Multinational Alliance for the Advancement of Organizational Excellence (MAAOE), organized by the University of Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with Philippe Hermel, Dean of the Business School, as chair. Founded in 1998, MAAOE is an international,interdisciplinary organization directed at the creation, dissemination, and application of new knowledge for the advancement of for-profit, non-profit,educational, and governmental organizations.
The theme of the conference was "Towards a sustainable excellence?". The aim was to go beyond the consideration about how to obtain organizational excellence, and to think about how to perpetuate it in a world where value creation – not only for shareholders, but for stakeholders and the society in general – has become a major concern.
Individuals representing academia, business, health care, consulting,government, and non-profits presented nearly 80 research and case study papers addressing a number of management challenges. Subjects included innovation,efficiency and resources creation, ISO challenges, accreditation, social innovation, sustainability, organizational culture, optimization of triple bottom line, knowledge management, lean organizations, quality management,harmonizing business excellence and sustainable development, the EFQM model,strategy, national culture and performance, excellence in specific contexts such as the public sector or hospitals, BEST business excellence, TQM sustainability,training, and sustaining excellence.
In addition to high-quality debates (following the conference 28 papers were pre-selected for publication in 15 different journals), the delegates could benefit from a gala-dinner in a former Abbey, a cocktail luncheon at the City-Hall and a closing session at the "Grand Triannon", part of the"Chateau" of Versailles. A selection of conference papers will appear in Measuring Business Excellence during 2002, along with an editorial summary.
Proceedings of this conference are available at: Larequoi Research Center,University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 47, boulevard Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt, France. E-mail: maaoe-conference@quoi.uvsq.fr
In September 2002, the Third International Research Conference of the Multinational Alliance for the Advancement of Organizational Excellence will be held in the west of Scotland, either on Loch Lomond or in Ayr. In 2003 the conference will be held in Australia and in 2004 the conference will be held in the USA.
Rick Edgeman and Doug Hensler(Editors of this journal and co-founders of MAAOE).
Philippe Hermel(chair of MAAOE II, Versailles 2001).
